>>1065050
>Do you still have the scarf you used to defeat Moriko in your first battle? It might work as a reminder of your bond.
Yes! That's a really good idea! Let's do that!

>>1065050
A token of favor, in my opinion, is the kind of keepsake that gives you courage when your faith wanes. Since you two have this shared experience, I believe it would be a great choice, but I'm concerned it might be a memory of you winning her.

Perhaps you could create the token out of the scarf in a way that still makes it recognizable as that particular scarf while still symbolizing your relationship (as lord and knight, of course ¬¬).

Perhaps with some imbuement it could be a golem under her control. Some gold threads to appease the rings curse, and an enchantment so she could use it like Deem did in that battle? If such a thing is possible.

Maybe combine the scarf with glossid lacquer and gelforging to turn it into a laminated girdle, with a big bow on the lower back. Could still extend golemetry tentacles from the bow, but seems like a better fit overall for both magical-girl and samurai-formalwear aesthetics. Symbolically evokes core strength and support, rather than resembling a leash and collar, or the demonic prehensile hair she previously objected to. Also, belt is a more convenient mounting point for future trophies or upgrade trinkets, so, foundation.

1/2 Deem 2023/08/24(Thu)05:01 No. 1070681 ID: 3f7da0
File 169287847926.png - (20.52KB , 800x550 , a_token_of_appreciation.png )

>Do you still have the scarf you used to defeat Moriko in your first battle? It might work as a reminder of your bond.
That was just some cloth Merud found for me somewhere in the Golemeter's Guild. I didn't really keep track of-

Wait.

Moriko started tying her hair back after that. With a red piece of cloth...

She's beaten me to the punch.

>Yes, perfect. Invite her to a dinner you made just for her. You should try some dishes from her homeland in case she feels nostalgic, like jelly donuts or hamburgers.
>Well, it has to be something she can possess. A meal would only temporarily satisfy her desires.
I doubt those are authentic dishes. Still we're having a banquet tomorrow and it would be a good gesture. I'll see about preparing something for her.

>I'm curious what Moriko would do if you just took off your outfit and handed it to her, but- Potion.
Nothing, because I am not going to do that.

>Surely, something you created in a drunken haze of hedonism will carry the purest, raw feelings of your heart.
No.

That's stupid.

>Why not make her a scarf or a ribbon in your colours, with some beneficial effect added to it? Token of respect, of your authority and useful to boost.
I worry it would be reundant with what she already has. Still, something practical might be good.

>I think fancying up the bottle sounds like a good idea. Give it some flair, and maybe reshape it so she can keep it on her regularly.
>The potion is good. It represents how you empower your servants, serving as a practical example of it.
Yes, a flask I think. Something more convenient that these clunky stoneware potion bottles we're currently using. Two chambered, and I'll put what remains of the golem-making and the enlarging potions in it, as those are both expressions of what I can make, and will give her options in a pinch.

"I've had a thought of something you might appreciate," I say to my hammerai, "but I fear I'll need a little time to prepare it. I'll have to give it to you after today's lunch."

"Thank you." Moriko nods solemnly.

>Pat imp on head.
No. The imp has been very naughty and will not be receiving pats or pets of any kind from me this night.

>Also, from what Moriko is saying, it sounds like what shes craving is really respect, or prestige. Surprisingly non-tangible, and thus harder to quantify, but at least it wont cost us anything to feed. I think everyone already respects Moriko a lot, but the issue might be showing it sincerely in a way she can actually recognize.
"And thank you, Moriko." I say. "You've been a pillar of strength as we've fought to establish ourselves here. You've been there for us - for me - against all our greatest threats. It wouldn't have been the same without you."

Flushed again, Moriko excuses herself as her imp becomes rambunctious.

I will make a gift in the small hours of the morning now, but first I need to drop a somewhat squashed slime off with its progenitor and ask for Alkaline's opinion on appropriate punishment.

2/2 Deem 2023/08/24(Thu)05:02 No. 1070682 ID: 3f7da0
File 169287853105.png - (31.60KB , 720x720 , chew_the_fat.png )

>>slime won't spill the beans
>That implies it's Alkaline. The slimes shouldn't have any other strong loyalties. Was it possible that when she saw you in the forest, she ran back to her room as fast as possible, and faked sleep before you checked? A faked sleep while nervous about it would certainly look like what you saw.
She's been in her room in the dungeon the whole time. I elect to knock and she eventually answers. Her Toxic Shroud has been thickened up again, although so has the rest of her. She's more like a snowman than her regular self, complete with a rather substantial nose. Her hair and hands seemed to be hardened, more like drying tree sap than normal slime.

"What happened to you?" she asks.

I suppose last time we talked I was much less substantial, and possessed of much less vegetation. "I might ask you the same."

Alkaline hiccups. "You know why!" she says. "I took all those curses so I can get all strong and cool!"

Unusually forthright of her. "Well maybe I wanted to be strong and cool too." I joke.

"Nooo! You're so uncool!"

I bite back on the words 'I am very cool' because I haven't existed for thousands of years only to lose an argument with a sulky adolescent slime.

I sigh instead. "I warned you about going overboard." I say. "But you didn't listen."

"You just left me, and then you did this to yourself? So experimenting is fine if you're the one doing it?" Alkaline shoots back.

I am trying to juggle a lot but maybe I was hasty leaving her to deal with the consequences of her actions. I should have been more patient. But she keeps trying to race ahead and it's going to keep getting her in trouble. "Alkaline, I just don't want you to hurt yourself. You don't have anything to prove. What were you expecting to happen?"

"I want to be hot!"

I am rapidly losing track of this conversation. "I thought you wanted to be cool?"

Alkaline flushes greener. "You just don't get it!"

She goes to slam the door. I hold it open.

"We should talk about this properly later, but Alkaline I came here to tell you I caught one of your slimes up in the valley forcing Doyle to make potions."

"I wanted to go!" my royal jelly bursts out.

I look at Alkaline. She looks at me.

She tries to close the door again.

"Alkaline." I say. "Have you been bullying Doyle?"

The somewhat squashed slime I brought with me repeats she doesn't know who she is or where she is. I give her a look and she shrinks back into a puddle.

"He, he - Making potions are what he's for!" Alkaline protests.

It looks like I don't need to get Alkaline's opinion on how to punish her slimes because now I need to punish her as well. although perhaps I should wait for her to be less cursed and more able to do things like scrub Doyle and haul water.

Something in the pile of curses she's acquired seems to have loosened her tongue. I could likely uncover all the details of this secret potion party conspiracy by asking Alkaline some more pointed questions. I don't think she'd forgive me for abusing her vulnerability like that.

I certainly would not if it happened to me.

Still, how should I handle this spoiled slime princess of mine?

>>1070682
she must be punished.
>put her in the jar.<

Abusing Doyle is most uncool. Punishment: Diet and exercise, and being compelled to do so against her will. Or so she’s told, until she realizes that’s what she has to do anyway to become hot.
Just following orders is not an excuse for her slime, however. Assign her the tasks of helping Doyle until Alkaline is fit to take over.

> I could likely uncover all the details of this secret potion party conspiracy by asking Alkaline some more pointed questions.

It doesn't seem like there's much more to this than a bratty princess here doing what she knows she's not supposed to. Moriko's imp is involved probably just because it tagged along. There could be something more serious like an outsider meddling with your minions to weaken you, but there's no evidence of that to be the case yet.

> I don't think she'd forgive me for abusing her vulnerability like that.

Tell her that one of those curses seems to be keeping her from lying. You're not going to take advantage of that, but it should impress upon her that more is not necessarily better. She can be strong and cool, and hot, but not by hiding in her room and cursing herself.

Her punishment should involve... getting along with others, something that doesn't let her hide away like this. Definitely publically apologizing to Doyle, once you find out what Doyle thinks of all this. The curses should be their own punishment until you manage to remove the less flattering of them.

I don't think you could squeeze her into the jar like this.

>>1070689
This seems like the best solution. Ask alkaline what she thought would happen after you inevitably found out she was being a shit.

"I (still) look like this because I am putting the needs of others before myself. You look like this because you’re putting your needs above others. The similarity is only skin deep."
Don't push her on the truth curse. Do take a more proactive role in slime development moving forward. It's difficult but don't let her push you away.

>How do I deal with spoiled slime princesses
You sigh, kneel down and give her a hug or at least a gentle pat on the back and apologize for leaving her alone to deal with these curses, while you help loosen the worst ones. You say you could at least have offered some comfort and support, even if she willingly went in over her head despite your explicit advice. You lost your patience. You should not have.

But so did she, no?

Assert that fast growth tends to come at a cost more long-term approaches do not - unless one's lucky. For better and worse: she's a lucky gal, and never had to learn that lesson. She has been making great headway and taken risky bets that have paid off - but she must realise luck never holds up forever. Risks must be calculated, not rushed. She's a monarch in the making and needs to think of those around her, and of the consequences of her actions. The way she's acted - it's hurt her and others around her needlessly. You don't want to see your mistakes repeated those hurts turn into truly serious mistakes, or worse.

Does she know she was weakening her minions by serving them diluted random mixed brews from Doyle? Both spiritually and physically, they were becoming dependent on bullied brew for their strength and confidence. And random assorted potion ingredients would randomize their growth (right?), make it far more scattershot than it need to be. Luck would not favor all of them in what they absorbed from this.

The scheme also involved weakening Doyle's brew regularly, making him less able to contribute with a more properly potent brew. That hurt both his own growth and the dungeon's chances to make decent use of his more potent product. Yes, brewing's what he's good at, but brewing is oft a product of patience. There was such a needless waste from this - all done to hide the fact they were improperly using him so.

Moreover, she's broken trust. She's very clever, so knew well you would not approve of this treatment of Doyle. He is bound to this place too and deserves a chance to grow and find his place and strength. Did she really think you would not try to help him grow? You get that she might have felt... something about his regular act, maybe felt he was not pulling his full weight. But there was time still for him to come into his own. And the trust she broke? More so than just yours, she's broken the trust of Doyle, who is still also one of your charges and will remain so.

For now he's scarpered again, and you're not sure where he's gone or what he's thinking, and you're wondering when he'll pop out again. He's probably fearful he'll be punished for having kow-towed to the potion gang's schemes. Or punished by a vengeful slime princess thinking he tattled, rather than the random chance you discovered the truth. That's quite unfair on him.

Nudge her gently and ask her, leader to leader, how she'd make up for neglecting a minion of hers and letting them be bullied by foolish folk, some who ought to know far better. A ruler of a domain ought to think of such things, for when they mess up - or their underlings do - they're the ones who stand responsible and have to clean up and make amends.

Fortunately, it does help to have... a voice or two of reason around. Someone to bat ideas off of.

Now then.

Ask her how she would unfudge this mess. If she had to. You don't expect miracles here, just her honest assessment. She's young, naive, upset, cursed and wroth, sure - but challenge her mettle and see if she can use her glob for more than whinging or blaming.

There will still be consequences - but make her realize why they will exist. Get her started on realing she needs to make up for her rushed, rude, attempt at growth for, uh, hotness' sake.

>>1070689 and >>1070716 +1

You know Deem, your approach with Alkaline has failed so badly because you flip flop between coddling her and running away from the more emotionally engaged solution.

And that largely is our fault, an approach that balances the fact that children and teenagers are vicious little shits who constantly test their limits, while not being the oppressive tyrant that demands constant obedience and quashes any personal expression.

You haven't been a tyrant at all, and that's a bit of a problem. You can't impart years of wisdom to a vicious little shit with simple words. So you either let them make the mistakes and deal with the consequences. That's this. This worked. She's suffering for her hubris. It's not serious or permanent, she'll be more normal as she digests the slew of curses, it's the perfect lesson for her to learn.

For Alkaline, with Doyle it's different. Doyle is also a bit of an asshole but it's not good to treat your equipment poorly. I'm not... entirely sure we want to discourage this. We need to find out what she was doing.

If lets say she was getting the Imp and her slime to feed Doyle random ingredients to make into potions, and then testing the effects on the easily replaceable slime minion, and then upon finding it's not going to be immediately fatal or ruinous then tests efficacy of the resulting potion on Moriko's shadow imp...

I mean, that's just genius and great and you should be proud of that.

If she was just coercing Doyle into making strength potions or something stupid like that then punish her for real. I mean, I don't know what corporal punishment would be when were talking about a slime queen, so maybe just something directly embarrassing instead.

Kids don't really learn until you actually explain why they've done something wrong. They need to understand it. With Alkaline... I'd say press her for what she was hoping would happen, setting aside the specifics of what she did. Then you can go in with how badly she accomplished it and how much better it would have gone if she hadn't gone behind your back with it. Making it obvious how Doyle felt about it, like showing her how it reacts to her, might make her feel guilty as well.

Laying down the law on a rebellious teen just backfires every time. Gotta play it smarter than that

1/3 Deem 2023/09/22(Fri)20:32 No. 1072932 ID: ea6fca
File 169543995873.png - (42.44KB , 800x600 , smh.png )

>she must be punished.
>>put her in the jar.<<
>I don't think you could squeeze her into the jar like this.
What jar?

>It doesn't seem like there's much more to this than a bratty princess here doing what she knows she's not supposed to. Moriko's imp is involved probably just because it tagged along.
Maybe I'm just being paranoid then, assuming there has to be something more to it.

>For Alkaline, with Doyle it's different. Doyle is also a bit of an asshole but it's not good to treat your equipment poorly. I'm not... entirely sure we want to discourage this. We need to find out what she was doing.
I'm not going to change the punishment based on whether whether her mistreating Doyle produced something potentially useful for me. That's disgusting.

>Tell her that one of those curses seems to be keeping her from lying. You're not going to take advantage of that, but it should impress upon her that more is not necessarily better. She can be strong and cool, and hot, but not by hiding in her room and cursing herself.
"All these curses seem to have given you a flapping tongue, Alkaline, so I'll keep this short. If you just try to pile more questionable magic on, the results will be lukewarm at best."

>Ask Alkaline what she thought would happen after you inevitably found out she was being a shit.
"I will ask though, what did you think was going to happen when I found out?"

"You barely even noticed..." Alkaline says in a surly tone. She hiccups and then rallies. "You'd stop me having fun, because you don't want me to have any fun!"

"This was fun, was it?" I say. "Strongarming Doyle into sneaking out to brew up some party drinks for you, because that's 'what he's for'?"

This seems to have some impact, Alkaline shrinks into herself at my words.

>Her punishment should involve... getting along with others, something that doesn't let her hide away like this. Definitely publically apologizing to Doyle, once you find out what Doyle thinks of all this.
"You'll need to apologise to Doyle as well." I say. "And once you are feeling a little better, there's work to be done replacing some of the ingredients you've used up, and getting other things for the dungeon. I'll be expecting you to work under the others' supervision and to not try to rush in by yourself next time."

She stiffly nods in acknowledgement.

>She's suffering for her hubris. It's not serious or permanent, she'll be more normal as she digests the slew of curses, it's the perfect lesson for her to learn.
"Since you seem so determined to make your own fun, then you can suffer some of the consequences!" I prod her rubbery shroud with one finger. "Are any of these curses hurting you?"

"No!" Alkaline says, though she does raise one hand to cover her nose. "I could deal with a lot more!"

"Then dealing with those curses until they digest seems like an appropriate punishment."

"I could fix this if I got the right curse!" she says.

"Alkaline, doing something again and again in the hope it'll pay off this time is what leads gamblers to ruin."

2/3 Deem 2023/09/22(Fri)20:33 No. 1072933 ID: ea6fca
File 169543998727.png - (34.67KB , 750x650 , what_did_you_just_say.png )

>She has been making great headway and taken risky bets that have paid off - but she must realise luck never holds up forever. Risks must be calculated, not rushed. She's a monarch in the making and needs to think of those around her, and of the consequences of her actions. The way she's acted - it's hurt her and others around her needlessly.
I sigh. "You can't keep rushing things, and taking risks." I say to her. "You should only move when you're prepared, if you can."

"You would say that." she sniffs.

"Alkaline..." I say warningly.

"You don't want anyone to do anything without your say so!" Alkaline bursts out. "And you never want to do anything! Hin was sick for so long because you wouldn't commit to anything for treating her cough. The only time you talk to Stargazer and Reisarf is to tell them to stop doing whatever they're doing! With that goo glade, I got all the stuff the last time, and Hin came back super-strong the time before that and you didn't like that either!"

"I want you all to stay safe." I say.

"You don't want anyone to live! You got all huffy when Merud asked my friend Ophelia to come without asking you too!" Alkaline presses on.

"Friends?" I say. Now that priest girl is trying to corrupt her? "When did you become friends with that girl?!"

"You slept through it!" Alkaline shouts back.

I can't let myself get distracted by the machination of the sky-power. Alkaline's upset and lashing out. I try to get my own emotions under control.

"You keep making Moriko all mopey too!" my royal jelly continues. "You never know what you want for her! I've seen her giving you the look!"

"What look?" I say.

"The look!" Alkaline repeats. "You just keep leading her on!"

"I'm not about to start courting anyone, Alkaline!" I splutter. "And even if I did, it would hardly be appropria-"

"Who cares!?!"

Alkine pants, a little wild eyed. I stare at her in silence. Maybe you were right. Maybe those smutty books have been ruining her brain.

The silence draws out too long.

"We're not discussing this. You're taking too many risks and it's started hurting people Alkaline. I'll see you in the morning."

I close the door.

>You know Deem, your approach with Alkaline has failed so badly because you flip flop between coddling her and running away from the more emotionally engaged solution.
Shut up.

3/3 Deem 2023/09/22(Fri)20:33 No. 1072935 ID: ea6fca
File 169544003235.png - (49.30KB , 800x600 , 99_problems.png )

Despite the hour, I notice Merud's still in the Golem Totem, with a number of the golems. I go to check in on him. Hopefully I'm not about to discover there's some sort of golem fighting ring that has been started here too.

"Merud, it's the middle of the night." I say.

"Mmmm," Merud says, sipping from his mug. A slight jitter seems to be running through his entire body.

"How much cacoffee have you been drinking?" I ask him.

"Some!" he says brightly.

I sigh. "I'm fun aren't I?"

"What's brought this on?" Merud says.

"It's - no, never mind. It was a stupid question."

"You're certainly interesting." Merud says, looking me up and down. "And I think Alkaline might just have reached that difficult age - in record time, no less."

"Mmm." I agree noncommittally. Damn his wizard ears. I spot Centaur. "Why is that golem active again? I thought I told you to keep her dormant."

"Ah well I'm trying to understand the cooperative cores in the mixed golem we're trying to fix up." Merud says, pointing to the stick-and-mud golem. "Especially since I'm having trouble integrating clay into it, since the base composition is different. I hoped that Centaur's two cores and parastic golemetry might spark some ideas." He points at the sitting woody golem and gardening golem behind him. "And the green-thumb spores have caused a lot of growth of the woody parts so I'm having to reinforce other parts of the golem to accomodate it."

He nudges the golem-suit for the orange slime on the table. It's next to the slime itself, which is burbling happily in its pot. "And hopefully that will help for the new version of this. I wouldn't recommend frog leather as an export material by the way."

"And of course we haven't fully replaced golem losses from these last few attacks and expeditions." he says, running a hand down his face. "Though now I've got some burning questions for you! What have you done to yourself?"

I briefly explain my experiments with the locus fluid and incorporating vegetation into my golem body that has awakened a modified ritual spell.

"You seem to be changing things a lot more frequently since you've gotten your homunculus body." Merud nods along. "Do you think it's because you have more raw mana leaking out of your Heart fragment and encouraging changes, or are you just experimenting with your image?"

I blink. "It must be the first one." I say.

Merud looks at me for a moment and then nods. "I suppose it must be. I do wish we'd set aside some of your clay after you got cursed though. This'll add another factor on top." he sighs.

That's true. I have been ingesting the occasional piece of clay to allow some to be removed to discover if the inherent abilities and raw mana saturation my golem body has been building up might be reflected in other golems but... I haven't extracted any yet.

"Then we'll do it now!" I say, and immediately discover that my cursed state stops me from losing weight by pulling off excess clay like I did to provide clay for Centaur. Now my own body is defying me?!

"It's fine, it can wait." Merud says.

"No, we've missed one chance already." I say. "Don't get distracted, I'm committed to this now!"

"Deem..." Merud says.

How can I extract some clay?

get pregnant. funnel spare mass into child. objectionable enough to you that the curse is likely to cooperate. simple way to shed clay.

>>1072935
Well, you've got a pair of lumps on your chest that don't do anything. Could just pull those off.

>>1072935
remove the lumps

>>1072935
>"Then we'll do it now!" I say, and immediately discover that my cursed state stops me from losing weight by pulling off excess clay like I did to provide clay for Centaur. Now my own body is defying me?!
Deem? You look fine. Don't feel obligated to lose weight.

-A hot bath to soften your clay up
-Hug Centaur
-Add a Curse of Formlessness from Reisarf on top of the other curses
-Making more of those Deem eggs
-Chewing a piece of clay like gum to contaminate it instead of extracting yours

>>1072935
Well if you can't just pull it off yourself, could merud isolate a patch of it somewhere magically? Is there some sort of magical way a handful could be constricted into a ball and fall off on its own? Either way you might have to get damaged

Wait, Deem, what about Gigant Mode? Or Disperse Mode? Are either of those active right now?

>>1072935
Well, the golem sitting on the table seems to have two large spare globes of clay you can extract for yourself.

>>1072933
That curse was making her say things she thinks are true. Doesn't mean they are true, but if you've been giving her that impression then you have been doing something *like* what she's accusing you of. I know you've had some conversations with Reisarf that didn't involve scolding the two of them, but... maybe you should talk to them more often?

Just how much do you hate the idea of dating Moriko? If you are asexual then you need to tell her that.

>>1072935
>How to extract clay?
Have Merud do it. Just cut some off you or something like that. It's not like you're going to reflexively attack him in retaliation, right?

Hmm. Do you know what's wrong with Centaur? Why you can't keep it under control?
I wonder if you can just keep feeding golems to it forever, or if there's a limit to how much it's going to eat. Does it cost more energy to keep active the more it eats, or does it just generally get stronger when it eats golems? Maybe you could use it as a boss monster in either case?

Oof, that baby option would probably work, it follows the principle of forms golemetry seems to like and would probably allow you to bypass the curse. Would certainly be a price to your dignity and who knows what kind of unholy abomination your homonculous golem offspring would be.

Seems like it's a mental block though, if you lowered your defenses a bit you could probably let centaur leech some of it out of you. Merud might be able to if you let him too, and that'd probably be a tad safer.

And you don't need to take Alkaline so seriously. Hin is fine now and wasn't worried then. The independence of Stargazer and Reisarf is a good thing, they can get along without needing to be managed or direct all the time which is great. And Moriko?

Moriko is a hot blooded warrior and frankly, any relationship with you isn't going to be something any humanoid would be accustomed to. I'm never sure if you actually feel anything for her like she clearly does for you, but if you really want to give her something more what you need to do is what left such an impression on her in the first place.

Find a good earth pulse locus, cast reinforcement magic, and engage in glorious battle. If you desire a stronger connection, connecting through the earth pulse is the only way to do it without the layer of conscious bullshit you engage in to keep your mannerisms acceptable to the humanoids.

Alkaline is going through those rough teenage years. As much as you can't have her impugning your authority or outright rebelling like this, her self confidence and aggressive hubris are necessary traits for any queen. I think she really just needs to learn her limitations by outright failing a few times, hopefully in a context that won't cause any permanent harm.

You are Reisarf's boss and telling him no is part of the job. That's not to downplay the times you've said yes, however. His research, his abilities, and Stargazer's too are valuable to you and you might just want to reaffirm that with a conversation for your ego's sake.

You're plenty fun, Deem. Why do you think we stick around?

But maybe not so fun for a child wanting to explore her boundaries. It can be no fun being the parent either, for sure. But it is necessary work, if underappreciated. Rest assured most of Alkaline's words were those of a youth throwing perceived flaws back in the face of the guardian irritating them. The curse just meant she thought there was truth to all of it.

And honest feedback is... well, let's make what use we think we can of it, no?

*You could check with Reisarf and Stargazer if you're being overly nosy or fussy-careful, and holding them back or something. And TRY to socialize a bit more with them, though that do be hard.

*You could ask Hin some time if she thinks you could've moved faster with her cough. I strongly doubt she holds a grudge, but it might be interesting to get her perspective. Is it so wrong to be careful?

*Alkaline's choice of friend... makes sense. She's only met so many people in her entire life - and she's innocent of grudges. Just think about it: around here her only contemporary in relative youth is Reisarf and Reisarf is Reisarf. It is a given that Alkaline would find another youth interesting while they were here. So, to broaden her horizens and let her have some of that 'fun', once her punishment is done you could consider allowing her the freedom of a trip to town. Out of your original batch of minions, she and Doyle are the only ones who have yet to go, no? Giving them access would probably require some finessing, but neither should come off as too threatening or wild to the townsfolk.

*Moriko has seemed a little taken with you. Whatever Alkeline has read into it it is not something that's come from thin air. While I disagree with the 'stringing her along' bit, you have arguably taken an interest in turn in a way you have not with the others. You two share a... connection, be that as main boss and dungeon, or Moriko and Deem. What that is, means or could come to mean will be up to the two of you to figure out, mutual respecting tight-knit dungeon duo, or whatever - but one should certainly try to prevent situations in which Moriko (or you) becomes 'mopey'.

Good luck~

As for the clay: Merud cutting, twisting or tearing some off will probably work - it's not a curse of stasis or invulnerability, so "attacks" should work. Right?

>>1072933
>"I want you all to stay safe." I say.
That's a perfectly understandable reason for doing the things you've been doing. You had a previous group of denizens before you got sealed away, so now that you have a new group of denizens, you want to make sure nothing happens to them!

>"Who cares!?!"
She's got a point. Who cares? Nobody will judge you if you did start to court Moriko.

>>1072935
Deem, listen to Merud. He's right about this, it can wait.

Honestly, you already have several projects running right now, you don't need to be adding another one onto the pile! You're only stressing yourself out from trying to do all of these projects at the same time!

Just relax for now and focus on your current projects first before you attempt to do whatever it is you're trying to do now.

1/3 Deem 2023/11/14(Tue)02:42 No. 1077244 ID: d20dab
File 169995852159.png - (34.71KB , 800x600 , calm_ur_tits.png )

>She's got a point. Who cares? Nobody will judge you if you did start to court Moriko.
I'm not going to court anyone!

>Get pregnant. Funnel spare mass into child.
ABSOLUTELY NOT.

>A hot bath to soften your clay up
>Hug Centaur
>Add a Curse of Formlessness from Reisarf on top of the other curses
>Chewing a piece of clay like gum to contaminate it instead of extracting yours
Ineffective, too slow or it risks contaminating the sample!

>Making more of those Deem eggs
>Wait, Deem, what about Gigant Mode?
>Well, the golem sitting on the table seems to have two large spare globes of clay you can extract for yourself.
I need to remove clay. Remove clay.

>Merud might be able to if you let him too, and that'd probably be a tad safer.
>Well, you've got a pair of lumps on your chest that don't do anything. Could just pull those off.
"Merud, clear the table! You need to grab my breasts!" I say, as I start untying the shoulder knot on my dress.

Merud blinks very rapidly. "Deem, calm down."

"I am perfectly calm!" I say, finally getting the wretched knot undone.

My golemeter immediately turns around.

"What are you doing?" I say.

"You said I shouldn't get distracted." he replies.

I growl as I pick up a knife. He's not going to distract me, especially since this just requires coarsening my golem body and a vigorous sawing motion.

Merud turns at the sound of two soft thuds. "You... already..." He looks queasy.

"Merud, I've been mauled by a bear. This is nothing." Still, out of consideration I move the shed clay to one of the shelves.

"You weren't always this... juicy." Merud says, rummaging through the golem making supplies for something to use as bandages as I try to mitigate the amount of sap my golem body is leaking by applying new clay to the torso. "Did you have to hurt yourself like that Deem?" he says.

"Yes." I say, cinching the bandages up. My chest feels strange, I'm going to have to do some tidying up of this quick patch job later. "Most of the other ideas were much worse."

He sighs. "You don't need to do something like this just to prove you can take action."

"Why do you say that?" I say.

Merud just gives me a look. "After telling off Alkaline for taking risks, regardless of whether this worked out or not you were going to feel vindicated."

I fiddle with the knife."Don't start analysing me Merud, I don't like it."

"Well you're no fun at all then."

"..."

I am perfectly calm and it would be ungracious - and monstrous - of me to stab one of my denizens with this knife. We manage some desultory conversation about golems with multiple cores instead.

>Hmm. Do you know what's wrong with Centaur? Why you can't keep it under control?
>I wonder if you can just keep feeding golems to it forever, or if there's a limit to how much it's going to eat. Does it cost more energy to keep active the more it eats, or does it just generally get stronger when it eats golems? Maybe you could use it as a boss monster in either case?
Golems tend to have quirks, they're just not usually this obvious. I can keep Centaur under control, as it's just certain orders are interpreted ambiguously.

Centaur's strength is that there's an unusual complexity of mana channels embedded in her - about two golems' worth. This would otherwise be difficult to achieve with the materials and level of skill in applied golemetry I am currently able to muster. Adding additional sophistication in mana channels would improve performance if they are assembled harmoniously, which they currently seem to be. That may not be the case if more are added, though feeding her chrysopears may assist with resolving conflicts.

Centaur's main drawback is she currently has two cores, meaning it occupies two of the linkages needed for me to supply power to and issue commands to golems. This could potentially be mitigated by doing more work to tweak her towards a command golem with subordinate cores as those are designed to be more efficient in terms of links, though it would risk undermining her current unique qualities.

>You're plenty fun, Deem. Why do you think we stick around?
Because you don't have a lot of options.

2/3 Deem 2023/11/14(Tue)02:42 No. 1077245 ID: d20dab
File 169995857705.png - (46.73KB , 715x637 , girls_holding_knives_pt2.png )

At breakfast Hin does a double take, and then mouths the word 'fecund' at me. I'm not sure what exact expression crosses my golem's face but she seems indecently amused by it. Moving on, I meet Reisarf and Stargazer in the kitchen to prepare the ingredients liberated from the Orange Crags to make a lunchtime banquet.

To my surprise, Alkaline does show up to help.

"Oh you're really full of goo!" Reisarf says, on seeing Alkaline. "Well done, I think? I was going to try and make jelly for dessert, but do you think that'll be too much goo for you?"

"I could do a lot more! You don't know much about goo." Alkaline sniffs.

"Oh true it's more Stargazer's thing." Reisarf looks at her staff companion. "Though I don't think I'd be able to carry Stargazer if she was like you?"

Stargazer, who is inspecting the ceiling, wiggles.

"Maybe I could ride her instead?"

Stargazer wiggles some more.

"I'll make extra then!" Reisarf decides.

I sigh. "Reisarf, please don't try to fatten up Stargazer."

"I'm not fat!" Alkaline huffs. "You're fat."

I sigh again. "No-one's fat Alkaline."

Reisarf blinks. "Really?"

>You could check with Reisarf and Stargazer if you're being overly nosy or fussy-careful, and holding them back or something. And TRY to socialize a bit more with them, though that do be hard.
"Let's not get sidetracked. What were you thinking of doing with Stargazer?" I ask Reisarf.

"We were going to make crystals!" Reisarf says and does not elaborate.

"Could you explain?"

"Oh, well, making Stargazer fruit didn't really work out. But then we started thinking: those salt crystals grown in the cauldron golem were able to store a tiny amount of mana. If Stargazer can shed some more jelly, we can use Matter Virus to make better mana-storing crystals!"

It's my turn to blink. "That's a very good idea Reisarf!"

"Oh you think so?" Reisarf looks pleased. "I know you wanted me to talk about any experiments with Merud first but he's been really busy. And you said I should try to test things on frogs instead of myself, but we haven't been seeing many lately! It's been tricky."

I did say that before the trip into town, didn't I?

"Is there something you've been wanting to try, Reisarf?"

"Can we have your eggs?"

"My... eggs?" I say.

"From town." Reisarf nods. "They seem interesting and they might go bad if we leave them much longer."

Memories from one of those nightmares needle me. "You're not going to feed them to Stargazer to turn her into a girl are you?"

Reisarf laughs. "Don't be silly, she is a girl Deem!" Behind us Stargazer wiggles herself into an apron and picks up a knife to hand to Reisarf.

"A human girl." I correct myself.

"But you're not human?" Reisarf points out.

I shake my head. "You're right, I was being silly. You can have them."

Either it'll prove I was having absurd fears over nothing, or they'll propose to me and the gift of prophecy will once again be excruciatingly awkward.

Reisarf tilts her head. "You are a girl though, right?"

"I am definitely a girl, yes!" I say a little more forcefully than I intended.

We start cooking.

3/3 Deem 2023/11/14(Tue)02:44 No. 1077246 ID: d20dab
File 169995865502.png - (33.35KB , 760x600 , no_soup_for_you.png )

>That curse was making her say things she thinks are true. Doesn't mean they are true, but if you've been giving her that impression then you have been doing something *like* what she's accusing you of.
So far Alkaline has not being retching and saying more blatantly untrue things so it seems she's processed some of these curses at least.

Strange things are continuing to go wrong around her though. Alkaline keeps somehow accidentally picking up ingredients without anyone noticing which is causing some delays. On a slightly more exciting front her hardened pieces are becoming brittle and exploding when she sheds a piece.

This might be worth talking through if she wasn't still being surly this morning. She didn't get much sleep.

Alkaline eventually drops a pot of soup, apologises, gets angry about apologising, and storms off to her room. This is a tempestuous time for her I can see. Her alchemical slime does loiter to help, though it isn't much help.

>Alkaline's choice of friend... makes sense. She's only met so many people in her entire life - and she's innocent of grudges. Just think about it: around here her only contemporary in relative youth is Reisarf and Reisarf is Reisarf. It is a given that Alkaline would find another youth interesting while they were here.
I will consider procuring more youths untouched by the wretched sky-power then. Though that imp hasn't been a great influence either.

>To broaden her horizons and let her have some of that 'fun', once her punishment is done you could consider allowing her the freedom of a trip to town.
Actually that's a far better idea.

As long as she stays away from that church.

>You don't need to take Alkaline so seriously. Hin is fine now and wasn't worried then. The independence of Stargazer and Reisarf is a good thing, they can get along without needing to be managed or direct all the time which is great. And Moriko?
>Moriko is a hot blooded warrior and frankly, any relationship with you isn't going to be something any humanoid would be accustomed to.

>Moriko has seemed a little taken with you. Whatever Alkaline has read into it it is not something that's come from thin air.
>I'm never sure if you actually feel anything for her like she clearly does for you.
I feel for all my denizens.

Speaking of which, I have one last thing to finalise. I would like to announce the new form for the Resurrection Matrix at the lunch. I've canvased my denizen's opinions and the following options seem the most promising:

Resurrection Spring: Revamping the planned baths to be a crystal grotto. My denizens rise to the surface in one of the pools. Focused mainly on soothing my denizens and helping them relax.

Icon Memorial: A statue garden. The skin of the statue flakes away when my denizens are resurrected to reveal them. Something that would help give my denizens a nudge in pursuing an idealised image of who they wish to be.

Underworld Stairs: A great door hiding stairs to dark depths. My denizens walk back into the realm of the living. Something to incentivise introspection and struggle, and help them shed lingering doubts and injuries.

Rejuvenating Garden: A fantastical garden where my denizens reawaken in oversized flower buds. A place dense in nature magic where I might be able to support other rare plants.

>>1077244
>Centaur's main problem is that it takes up two golem "slots"
Right, so if you fed it more golems then it would take up more slots, and you'd have to feed it pears too to keep the cores harmonious? Still, you can leave it inactive near the boss chamber, and activate it when other golems have been disabled by adventurers!

>>1077246
>I feel for all my denizens.
Do you feel any romantic attraction towards Moriko? That is the question she needs to know the answer to. You don't even need to tell us. Tell her. Even if it's something like "I'm scared to want a deeper connection, because then the inevitable loss will be felt more keenly"

>resurrection?
Well, the Spring has two drawbacks: either the denizen has to resurrect naked or their stuff gets all wet, and secondly if anyone else is in the bath they'll get disturbed.
As for the stairs... can Doyle even climb stairs? They seem like they'd be unpleasant for anyone who has trouble getting around due to a curse or body shape. What happens if you tame a giant snake? And what happens if someone falls back down while trying to get out?
That leaves the statues and the garden. I'll vote Icon Memorial because there should be some inherent benefit to the denizens' growth; it sounds like the garden has none.

What happens if you fall down the stairs?
First choice statue park, second choice stairs.

Either Resurrection Spring or Icon Memorial for me- the perks seem most appealing to me. The stairs' effects are nice too but that seems more like the kind of thing to do via interpersonal stuff.

>'Fecund'
Haw, Hin's great - and right. Take it as complimentary acknowledgement that you are successfully embracing your new theme.

>excruciatingly awkward gift of prophecy
At least you might get better mana storage crystals out of it. And so we *were* holding back Reisarf and Stargazer some, huh. Our slime princess may be more observant than you'd like. Or she just spent enough time with them.

>Resurrection Rework
They're all good and intriguing. Icon Memorial might be the best fit as you and your denizens are now. There's a lot of people searching for who - or what - they wanna be around here, and even the more languid ones have places they could be going. And hey, it's probably good for the ego too to have your own statuary. Maybe.

Alternatively I'd say the Garden. It seems like a lively location that can give you room to grow more sorely needed resources - and the place can be a relaxing spot in itself, suitable for wonders and whispered meetings under the eaves of leaves.

>Midnight Mutilations
You should offer apologies to Merud for being cranky and acting on it last night. He's not the worst person to have borne involuntary witness to someone's irate cutting of gordian chests, but humans generally don't enjoy bodily dissembly (or the seeming thereof) without training or sadism.

Your body has taken on hefty tinges of life lately. He really did seem a little off-put - maybe from how easily you went ahead with marring it in response to recent changes. That's something to consider. People will come to think of your main body as 'you', however true or untrue that is, and seeing damage come to it, even if actually superficial, will probably cause similar reactions as them seeing someone less durable getting hurt.

Anyway, look who's here! Give the li'l orange boi a careful nudge-hug from us, will ya? Are they holding as well as can be expected?

Ah, and one more thing. You might want to find Doyle if he hasn't come back. Shouldn't miss out on a feast for fear of consequences that are not his to own.

>>1077245
>"No-one's fat Alkaline."
Why are you lying to the girl?

>>1077246
I like the Icon Memorial. The
Rejuvenating Garden looks good, but the benefits are dependent on us doing things with it and we always have too many things to do.

If I'm reading this right...

Resurrection Spring- Dying and resurrection is less unpleasant and traumatic + luxurious baths

Icon Memorial- Statues can be made into a more ideal version of themselves, granting growth and something to look forward to in death, at the risk of temporary regret.

Underworld Stairs- An opportunity for reflection and introspection upon death. Good for mental growth and future survivability in battle, longer respawn time.

Rejuvenation Garden- Bare minimum nicer than current system. More green space for plants abd projects.

The spring should prevent your more sensitive denizens from getting negative conditions should they get killed, which would let you make your dungeon riskier and more aggressive.

The memorial will offer huge gains to strong minded, emotionally mature denizens, and painful, temporarily crippling lessons to denizens that are less so. You'll need to take better care of your denizens mental states.

The stairs will sharpen warriors and thinkers, but frustrate everyone else.

The garden offers you more opportunities for projects, or you could specialize it for some other alternative effect, if your willing to spend the time.


I'm split between the Memorial and the Stairs.

Hin and your Quazi-Dragon would love the Memorial, but you'd need to take even closer care of Moriko.

The stairs would significantly increase the growth of Moriko and your Wizards but you'd need to keep the rest of your denizens safer from harm than they are now.

Icon Memorial. Though I think YOU'D benefit from some introspection, the denizens would absolutely benefit from some image training and forethought regarding their ideal selves.

Guess you should find Doyle, though if you could swing by and give Alkaline some attention, you should. In a way that doesn't remind her if her slipping up, of course. Maybe mention the trip you're planning for her?

I have an idea:
Have chitin stalagmite statues grow from the ceiling and then fall into a pit leading to a hot spring. Each death will be a shocking dunk into the pool followed by sweet relief; death should not be something to look forward to, but what comes after should. Those that gain the will to break free before they're done dropping will be sprayed with the embers scattered through the pit as part of the chitin removal treatment, giving them permanent bonuses from the capacity of self-revival but making it harder to break free on future attempts.

>>1077246
The garden would be my pick. It can also reinforce the nature magic theme as well and provide a good place to relax. Spring would be my second choice

>>1077274
Well they technically dont have actual fat just more "flesh"/mass due to sort of being amorphous "organism"
Also we are in a medival era its near impossible for meat creatures to gain the seeming bulk we have

Alkaline isn't fat, she is a slime. Amorphous, able to control her shape at will normally. She currently has a weird shape due to a curse, but she's still not fat. Her mass is all functional.

Please either get with that girl or just tell her you are not interested. I really feel bad for her

1/4 Deem 2024/01/26(Fri)02:50 No. 1081883 ID: df47b5
File 170626625072.png - (41.11KB , 750x750 , deems_too_important_to_carry_things_now.png )

>Rejuvenating Garden looks good, but the benefits are dependent on us doing things with it and we always have too many things to do.
It's true, my horticultural efforts so far have mostly been golem gardening and frantic weed control. I haven't even had the chance to replant bomb flower cuttings.

>The Spring has two drawbacks: either the denizen has to resurrect naked or their stuff gets all wet, and secondly if anyone else is in the bath they'll get disturbed.
As I wanted to enhance my Resurrection Matrix to ensure more harmonious operation within my dungeon I will discount this option then.

>What happens if you fall down the stairs?
That would be very difficult to do and very bad.

>I think YOU'D benefit from some introspection.
No I would not. Introspection isn't going to let me work harder at pulling together a proper dungeon.

>You might want to find Doyle if he hasn't come back.
Speaking of pulling things together, I should make sure everyone is gathered now we're waiting on everything to finish cooking.

Doyle is still up in the valley, loitering in the bushes near the huts so I go up to recover him.

"I know I recruited you forcefully," I say to him as I carry him back. "But you need to stand up for yourself. Don't let people just bully you into making them potions. You're not here to be run ragged dispensing them at everyone's convenience."

Doyle wiggles in place.

"You like people trying your potions?" We are about to eat but... "In that case, is there anything you can brew up with what you have that would help with recovering mana?"

Doyle wiggles again and offers me a ladle of his contents. I drink it and feel my breathing ease.

A berry also sprouts on one of my horns. I thought I'd subsumed that part of the curse entirely into my False Idol ritual. I pluck it off and eat it, I'm already attractive to monsters with the power I have gathered so far, making this just another drop in a pond.

>Do you feel any romantic attraction towards Moriko? That is the question she needs to know the answer to. You don't even need to tell us. Tell her.
>Please either get with that girl or just tell her you are not interested. I really feel bad for her
I can't maintain the right distance. Having this golem body is causing confusion. I am deficient in love. I am barely a person...

Wait, no, this is stupid. I have a lot to organise and no need to wallow in melodrama or agonise over relationships.

2/4 Deem 2024/01/26(Fri)02:52 No. 1081884 ID: df47b5
File 170626632132.png - (49.43KB , 800x550 , random_denizen_sampling.png )

>The stairs would significantly increase the growth of Moriko and your Wizards but you'd need to keep the rest of your denizens safer from harm than they are now.
Unfortunately I haven't performed too well on that point and only expect one of my wizards to regularly need to escape death. Perhaps if my dungeon was more established this would be the better pick, but at this time it looks like I'm left with one decision.

>Icon Memorial might be the best fit as you and your denizens are now. There's a lot of people searching for who - or what - they wanna be around here, and even the more languid ones have places they could be going. And hey, it's probably good for the ego too to have your own statuary. Maybe.
It will be a good crystallisation of intent for my denizens. And a chance to show some pride in who they are.

My denizens start gathering for the meal. Alkaline is still very cursed, leading a gaggle of her slimes, and Merud has brought the stick-in-mud golem and Centaur, for reasons that presently escape me.

"That's an interesting mask you have there, Alkaline." Merud says.

My big slime raises her little hands to her face. "Stop looking at my nose."

>>"No-one's fat Alkaline."
>Why are you lying to the girl?
Fine. Alkaline is fat. Is that what you wanted to hear?

>Well they technically dont have actual fat just more "flesh"/mass due to sort of being amorphous "organisms".
Fine. Alkaline is mass amorphed.

But to head off any unpleasantness over the mass of Alkaline's nose, I change the topic by asking Merud on his choice of golems.

"Ah, I'm still trying to clean up the new one before Mr Nemellan's visit," he says, "and looking at Centaur in some different environments to better understand the behaviour of cooperative cores."

I nod. "Thank you for working so hard on it Merud, but don't overwork yourself." He looks tired.

>You should offer apologies to Merud for being cranky and acting on it last night.
Ngh, I wasn't cranky, but I suppose I did discomfort him.

"And I'm sorry for last night, I should have been more considerate."

"You should!" Alkaline says.

...

Apologising was a mistake.

>Maybe mention the trip you're planning for Alkaline?
Not until she's more ready for it. No need for her to try to rush getting uncursed on top of everything else.

Thankfully Reisarf and Stargazer are coming along with the food along with some of my golems.

"Before we dig in, I have an announcement to make. Thank you everyone for your suggestions, but I have decided to renovate the Resurrection Matrix into a statue garden."

"Will there be a big copy of your face on the wall?" Reisarf asks.

"No Reisarf, I'm not using your idea."

"Aww."

"Why did you want that?" Alkaline asks.

Reisarf scuffs one shoe on the ground. "I thought it'd be interesting."

The food is served and we chatter over the events of the last few weeks. A lot has happened since my trip into town. I've thankfully bid farewell to bad dreams, the frogs have been a consistent annoyance, Hin's ended up queen of a little slice of slime-stuffed forest, Alkaline's had her growing pains, Moriko's met her demonic side, and we've accidentally flooded the dungeon with verdant spores.

The meal is calming for me, mana-rich food recuperating more of my perilously low energy, and I can feel a secondary stockpile as my golem body locks some of the energy of this 'offering' away thanks to my Verdant Image. It's strangely reassuring to have one stockpile of power that isn't constantly bleeding away from me.

My denizens are looking refreshed too, I'm glad to have something to thank them for their hard work.

3/4 Deem 2024/01/26(Fri)02:52 No. 1081885 ID: df47b5
File 170626635617.png - (29.34KB , 650x750 , dinner_sweepstake_winner.png )

It isn't the jelly donuts or hamburgers you proposed, but an attempt at a noodle dish was made, based off what little Moriko has said about her homeland and Reisarf and I putting our heads together.

I present Moriko her new potion flask as well. She seems happy but stays quiet in company. She's appreciative of it, that's enough for me for now.

Her imp is mostly behaving too, though extremely excited at all these new sights and foods.

>People will come to think of your main body as 'you', however true or untrue that is, and seeing damage come to it, even if actually superficial, will probably cause similar reactions as them seeing someone less durable getting hurt.
I suppose I will just have to be mindful of it. Remind them this isn't the entirety of my self.

>Give the li'l orange boi a careful nudge-hug from us, will ya? Are they holding as well as can be expected?
No, a suitable number of hugs is already being supplied by my denizens while they look after it. It's not dead yet, so it's doing better than I expected.

>>excruciatingly awkward gift of prophecy
>At least you might get better mana storage crystals out of it. And so we *were* holding back Reisarf and Stargazer some, huh. Our slime princess may be more observant than you'd like. Or she just spent enough time with them.
I bet she was just lucky.

Still, I suppose it shows I should have more regular check-ins with those two.

4/4 Deem 2024/01/26(Fri)02:53 No. 1081886 ID: df47b5
File 170626639988.png - (44.13KB , 750x650 , where_is_my_present_said_the_cake_crab.png )

It eventually comes down to just Hin and I picking through the leftovers, after my slime princess ends up retreating to her new slime lair in a sulk.

"Alkaline's looking extra healthy today." Hin comments.

"Don't get me started." I say.

Hin sighs. "Parenting's hard huh?"

I give her a look.

Hin straightens up in her chair. "Woah sorry, didn't mean to strike a nerve." She leans in. "Just... think about it though. Reisarf's got his head in the clouds half the time and Stargazer's up there with him. Merud can be pretty insightful but he doesn't know how to handle kids."

"Alkaline's not a child." I say.

"Sure she is." Hin continues. "Or at least she's acting like a dumb kid trying to convince everyone she's a grown-ass adult. Probably doing better than me at her age honestly, I joined a gang. Keep an eye out for imps or dinosaurs in leather jackets just in case I guess?"

"About that..." I say, and break the news of the secret potion party to her.

"There's a monster gang?!? And I missed out?!? Poor Doyle... but this is bullshit."

Anyway, who's left? Moriko! Moriko is either too intense or lost at sea with no hope of rescue. So sorry Deem but you're it for role models."

"What about you Hin?" I deflect.

"What, no! I'm like a big sister or cool aunt or something."

I rub my chin. "You've always seemed the responsible one."

"Cool big sis!" Hin insists.

>Haw, Hin's great - and right. Take it as complimentary acknowledgement that you are successfully embracing your new theme.
It seems to me there's still much to go in anyone embracing their role, but I suppose that's a matter for another day.

END CHAPTER 8